Nimeda sat unceremoniously where she had been standing, watching Noctua pace and question the Arboreal with all the commandment of the king she had perceived him to be before. Her knees tucked up, arms hugged around. “Return to the beginning and the end will finally arrive,” she muttered to herself. Those words had not been given to her though, had they? Too much squeezed her memory for attention. “An ending comes, anendingcomes.” Her face buried into the cage of her arms, body shivering despite the sun-dappled clearing. Fear contracted her ribcage. Her toes scrunched, curling to take shelter beneath the hem of her dress. They could not leave until they were released, and probably she would not have fled anyway; not with a similar betrayal so fresh in her mind. But where Noctua was graced with the premonitions to engineer a future, Nimeda saw the great holes rent from the path of the Wheel as it turned. Endings could not be stopped, and this one would be bloody and painful.
When her chin next propped on her folded arms, her face was blotched from tears, her eyes rimmed pink. She unfurled like a small flower, brushing the evidence away with her palms. “As your namesake,” she observed lightly, holding out a hand. “May I see?”
She took the stake carefully, as though it might easily smash to splinters in her grip. It hummed gently, perhaps only to her ears; a resonance not unlike the other old things that dwelled here, like Jon and Mara and Tristan. For a moment grey eyes peeked at Noctua, as though seeking permission, but if such was the intention she did not choose to voice it. With a quiet breath she fell back into soft waves of light. It was a lesser power here, and one she rarely relied on. But this was an object that sang to that inner gift.
As her fingers trailed the crystal, small veins of light probed too. They did not sink. They could not.
Until, suddenly, the power began to unravel from her -- sucked in like a vortex. The stake glowed faintly in the moment before she yelped and dropped it into her lap. She was not sure if the power had fled her control (unlikely), she had let go (possible), or the stake had ripped it from her grasp like a riptide. She stared down at it in surprise, not particularly enamoured of touching it again, though it showed no signs of life now. Her brows knit.
Around them the dream wavered; warped like someone had stuck a finger into a still pool, and now the ripples spread out. It lasted only a moment before it righted itself. Nimeda blinked. “It calls to kin,” she said.
When her chin next propped on her folded arms, her face was blotched from tears, her eyes rimmed pink. She unfurled like a small flower, brushing the evidence away with her palms. “As your namesake,” she observed lightly, holding out a hand. “May I see?”
She took the stake carefully, as though it might easily smash to splinters in her grip. It hummed gently, perhaps only to her ears; a resonance not unlike the other old things that dwelled here, like Jon and Mara and Tristan. For a moment grey eyes peeked at Noctua, as though seeking permission, but if such was the intention she did not choose to voice it. With a quiet breath she fell back into soft waves of light. It was a lesser power here, and one she rarely relied on. But this was an object that sang to that inner gift.
As her fingers trailed the crystal, small veins of light probed too. They did not sink. They could not.
Until, suddenly, the power began to unravel from her -- sucked in like a vortex. The stake glowed faintly in the moment before she yelped and dropped it into her lap. She was not sure if the power had fled her control (unlikely), she had let go (possible), or the stake had ripped it from her grasp like a riptide. She stared down at it in surprise, not particularly enamoured of touching it again, though it showed no signs of life now. Her brows knit.
Around them the dream wavered; warped like someone had stuck a finger into a still pool, and now the ripples spread out. It lasted only a moment before it righted itself. Nimeda blinked. “It calls to kin,” she said.